Steve Blake, who missed the Lakers final two games of the regular season and Game 1 of the first round NBA playoff series against the Hornets with the chickenpox, might be close to coming back to the team. At the very least, Blake is able to be with his teammates again. Blake's wife Kristen tweeted the following on Monday morning:
Steve is officially not contagious and will be joining the team at practice this morning! Yeah!
If it were up to Kristen, it sounds like she would have Steve play immediately, or at the very least at some point during the first round, which was extremely doubtful heading into the series:
Hey all you reporters who said he'd miss the whole first round and possibly the whole playoffs.....nevermind. I'll be nice. :)
Blake struggled to find his role in the triangle offense for most of the season, and struggled with his shot for a good portion of the year. Through November, Blake was shooting 47.4% on three-pointers, but since then he hit just 33.8% from distance in his final 62 games of the season. On the season, Blake shot worse on two-point shots (32.7%) than three-point shots (37.8%).
The Lakers made six of their 13 three-point attempts in Sunday's Game 1 loss to New Orleans. Game 2 is Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Staples Center. Game 2 will be televised by TNT.
For more news on this first-round matchup, be sure to stay tuned to this story stream at SB Nation Los Angeles. For more NBA playoff coverage, check out SB Nation's NBA playoff bracket and schedule. For more news and information on the Lakers, be sure to read the SB Nation blog Silver Screen and Roll.